


New Experiences

by sanctum_c



Series: Renegade Endless Summer 2019 - Aeris x Cloud Flavour [6]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Aeris's first experience of rain, F/M, False Memories, Flirting, Memories, Missing Scene, Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Aeris has wound up at Kalm thanks to a SOLDIER falling through her ceiling leading her from new experience to new experience. And now the weather.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Series: Renegade Endless Summer 2019 - Aeris x Cloud Flavour [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179911
Kudos: 10





	New Experiences

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'Midsummer Rain'

Kalm was new. The world was new. No plate overhead. Amazing. People who lived their lives out in the open, never heading below plate to go to the slums, or ascend up to the sky via the train. Smaller than Midgar. Smaller than Sector Five. Flowers. Other flowers on sale here, blooms and species Aeris had never seen before. The food tasted better; once Cloud finished relating the events of Nibelheim five years previous, Avalanche headed downstairs for lunch.

But it was hard to concentrate. She was not alone; while all of her companions had come from outside the city in the relative recent past, none of them could also resist gazing out to Kalm. Out to the world. Mountains so close at hand. Acres of open grassland. Trees. Flowers. Clouds. A sky not near perpetually grey. Much of the afternoon spent navigating Kalm’s markets, hunting down supplies and equipment to make the hike away from Midgar. Sephiroth was out there somewhere.

A later concern. For now there were myriad fruits, bigger and riper than those found in the slums. Impossible to resist spending so much gil on each type. She shared most of them with Tifa who sighed in contentment. Worse to have not tasted these foods in so long or to never have tasted them at all? She had never known what she was missing out here. Like the sun. The sun on her skin and the ground beneath her feet.

Not as intense as beyond the town limits. The Planet’s voice muted here; hard not to correspond this change in situation to the presence of a Mako reactor here. So much smaller than any of the colossal structures ringing Midgar, but still leeching at the ground beneath them. At times, the plains called out, the country spreading out towards the mountain and the poorly maintained road leading off towards an abandoned Mithril mine. Their course. Tomorrow.

Today they needed rest. Life had become so much busier, so much more hectic and filled with surprises since a SOLDIER fell through the church’s ceiling. Leaving home and exploring the rest of the world was a dream for so many years but the cost was such a hindrance. Not a concern as Avalanche fled, as they trailed after a quarry long presumed dead.

The rains started mid-afternoon. The clouds crossed the sun with intermittent regularity, increasing in size and covering of the sky. Not completely; the sun still broke through. Nothing like the foreboding mirk hanging above Midgar. People fled the rains when they fell; they huddled in doorways or produced umbrellas. Many hurried through the streets, slipping on damp stone, sheltering beneath improvised cover.

The water fell on Aeris. And she stayed still. Avalanche took a long pause. Rain was not unknown in Midgar, though rarely something to appreciate. The rains falling through plate-gaps might be at least not toxic, though rumours abounded of how much Mako they picked up as they fell through the Upper Plate. Other rain was in truth a leaking pipe dripping drainage water and perhaps worse substances. Always best avoided. The few rains experienced on the Upper plate were frustrating, customers refusing to stop when they happened, leaving Aeris to seek shelter or suffer as she became increasingly damp.

The rain was different here. Cleaner, untainted. Those with her shared smiles; rain like this the first in a long time. But they moved towards the inn after only a handful of moments. “I’m… I’m going to be a bit longer.” Tifa urged her not to be too long. She wouldn’t. But she needed to feel more of this. Heavier rain fall now, water soaking into her clothes. But the sun still shone, a rainbow blooming in the sky, warmth countering the cold. She broke into a run, crossing the scarring, ring of desert encircling Kalm to reach the Planet’s voice once more on the outskirts.

The Planet pulsed beneath her feet, the low moan tempered by the rain fall. The rain fed the plants, fed the worms and the other creatures in the soil. They worked in conjunction with nature, with the Planet to grow. The land burst with life. “Aeris?”

Cloud. He alone had trailed after her. “Wouldn’t have expected you to stay out in this.” Water dripped form her bangs. She would need to change when she got back. “Or is a mercenary life not as bad as I presumed?”

He smiled. “I had my fair share of rough nights.” A frown, his smile dipping. “Couldn’t find a place to stay. Now I think about it-“ He stared up into the rain. “Did I ever find an inn? The last time it rained. The last-” His hand went for the hilt of his sword, gripped it and he shook his head, relaxing.

“Maybe you were lucky with the weather. Me? Never felt rain like this.” A tremor ran through Cloud’s body. “Are you cold?”

“A bit?” Another shiver from him. “Maybe we should go in.”

“Maybe. Just a moment longer. And if you’re cold-“ She took his hand and pressed against his side. “-this doesn’t really work.” Aeris grinned up at him.

Something broke and he smiled back. “Not really.”

“Let’s head back.” She kept hold of his hand while they walked back towards the inn. “So. Is it true the best way to keep warm in the wilderness is cuddling up to someone else? Wearing as little as possible?” She quirked an eyebrow and he flushed.


End file.
